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Post photographer Michael Williamson is traveling across the country covering the economic situation.

About This Blog

Half A Tank is a summer-long quest to find images and stories of people whose lives have been altered by a flattened economy. Starting from home in the D.C. suburbs, Theresa Vargas and Michael Williamson are traveling around the country to experience how people are coping, struggling, even flourishing as we all reconsider how we live. Please share your reactions and experiences in the comment sections that follow each post.

Theresa Vargas is a native of San Antonio who, until now, has had only two
memorable road trips: Hitchhiking through South America and riding in the
back of a pick-up truck from California to Texas at the peak of summer. She came to The Post in 2006, where she has covered crime and
education. She lives in Virginia.

Michael Williamson is a Pulitzer Prize-winning photographer. He was born in Washington, D.C. and lived in 37 other places before coming back to work at The Washington Post in 1993.

Half a Tank: Along Recession Road: July 26, 2009 - August 1, 2009

Need a room? There are some for rent in downtown Mendota. Photo by Michael Williamson/The Washington Post MENDOTA, Calif.--The painted words, in all caps, on the side of a pale pink building say it all: THIS PRIVATE HOME FOR...

Barbara Zucker in front of the Vegas Foreclosure Express, a bus tour she and her husband started a year and a half ago. Photo by Michael Williamson/The Washington Post LAS VEGAS--In a city with the highest foreclosure rate in...

Photo by Michael Williamson/The Washington Post LAS VEGAS--For no other reason than that history matters, we visited The Boneyard, a gravel lot of retired, famous neon signs that once hung along the Vegas strip. The Stardust sign sits in...

Timothy and Cynthia Lucero glance down at a pile of unpaid bills on a desk in their Las Vegas apartment. Photo by Michael Williamson/The Washington Post LAS VEGAS--It didn’t happen all at once. Instead, the life Cynthia and Timothy...

Finished piñatas line a wall of a living room in San Antonio. Photo by Michael Williamson/The Washington Post SAN ANTONIO, Texas--On the list of recession-proof items, right below liquor and lipstick, add one more: Piñatas. “There’s always going to...